A Lullaby
by WolvesKey
Summary: Kisame is lonely after Itachi's sudden death. Having climbed his way out of depression, he's left for dead after battling with Konoha Ninja. He reflects on past experiences and decides to follow the wondrous, singing voice. KISAMExOC One-shot. EDITED!


**A/N: This was my first Kisame one-shot and I challenged myself by writing it about a fantasy creature that I thought would fit well with Kisame as a person. I've re-written it since the original version was a little unrealistic, I will eventually re-write/correct some of my other one-shots if they need work. However, I'm rather proud with how this turned out.**

**A special thank you to those of you that have reviewed, I really do appreciate it, your words and advice has helped me tremendously in my writing skills.**

**Please don't be put off of my reply to that one reviewer (you know who you are), I knew that this one-shot wasn't perfect and I had every intention of re-writing it again, but I just don't like spitefulness. Constructive criticism I can handle, but down-right rudeness is just bad manners and upsetting for those that **_**make an effort in their writing**_**. Honestly, if you can't be polite and nice about things-then SOD OFF!**

**Otherwise, please enjoy this one-shot and leave a review of what you think…pretty please? :)**

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"**A Lullaby"**

A lullaby.

So soft, so gentle, so…beautiful.

The voice of an angel, a siren, Kisame mused to himself, he was still listening to the wondrous melody, the way the feminine voice hit the notes just right, it soothed him from where he rested.

It came through the trees and echoed off on the wind, as if it were a ghost singing, perhaps it was?

But Kisame knew better than that, for he'd never heard a voice like that before, it was enchanting, he found himself smiling faintly from where he was leaning against a tree for the support his legs didn't have at that moment, his dark, crimson blood tainting the fabric of his clothes and the ground, turning it into an ugly colour.

Trust his blood to do that, his looks were almost the same, and now even his blood had decided to abandon him, and show to him what he really was.

Oh, the irony!

He grimaced as he tried to move, his wounds stinging like a fiery white-hot pain that wouldn't cease its burning.

He had fought against tough opponents, they were ninja from Konoha, and there were perhaps twenty of them?

All highly skilled, they could've been more skilled than any ANBU and they'd certainly proven themselves to be team fighters-something which many members of the Akatsuki had been terrible at.

Though they had not won in the end, all because Kisame was stronger and faster, they'd given him such looks of disgust at his appearance and although he'd grown used to the stares-he still could not stomach how they'd talked to him, as if he were trash.

They'd demanded that he tell them where Itachi was…or rather; where his _body_ was.

That's right, his once 'indestructible' partner-the 'prodigy' had finally gotten himself killed, and not by any powerful Kage-no one like that, instead he'd been killed by his brother's hands, make that his _younger_ brother.

How embarrassing, was what Kisame had thought when the news of Itachi's death had been reported to the remaining members, but that soon turned into an echo of pain as he realised after the weeks following, that he was virtually lonely, wrapped up in his solitude with no one other than himself to talk too.

The silence was so terribly boring, something that he didn't like, he liked talking, maybe not as much as Tobi or Hidan, but he certainly liked having the odd conversation, and Itachi never minded his random outbursts and topics, after all, when travelling and both being criminals, what else were they supposed to talk about?

The weather? Favourite colours? The past?

There was never any of that, especially about the past, they both knew enough about each other pretty well enough, they weren't nosey, they both disliked their past and talking about things that they knew were better to be forgotten about rather than dwell upon.

However, during the last few weeks when Itachi had been alive; Kisame had gathered that Itachi had been keeping something from him, and he knew now it was because of his little brother and the fact that he was going blind that'd probably urged him on to battle his younger brother for what had been the last time.

He had no idea that Itachi was suicidal.

Kisame never intruded on Itachi's privacy, he knew everyone had bad experiences in their memories that they would wish to erase, but there was no point in asking questions, and surely if there were something seriously wrong that it included their safety, then Itachi would have told him.

But he hadn't.

He hadn't told him about his plan to practically throw himself at Sasuke and get himself killed, that he wanted to die by his brother, that all this time he was of a fairly innocent mind-set and had disliked violence strongly.

Still, everyone had their secrets, but the fact that Itachi never said; 'goodbye' had always made him question their…'friendship', if you could call it that, however their relationship was stronger than all the others in Akatsuki, it never went beyond anything other than friendship-at most.

After Itachi's untimely death, Kisame had been sent on missions all around the outskirts of Konoha and goodness-knows-where-land, the loneliness caught up to him and nearly drove him insane.

At first Kisame began drinking heavily, drowning out his solitude, wanting to forget that he was alone, then he became reckless throwing himself at every mission going, putting his life and health at risk every time, he slept with whores that were desperate enough for money, he'd tried gambling, but that proved to be boring, he'd tried smoking, but then that made him sick and cough for the best-part of two days and he'd almost tried taking drugs.

He had the money and had found the most discreet seller he could find-he was more than prepared to use or do anything to forget the pain.

Itachi had been the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had, he'd never had anyone he could consider to be a friend, but Itachi had come pretty close to being one and he'd gotten used to the smaller man being around, it felt almost…nice, to know that someone was waiting for you in the morning before leaving a hotel and at the end of a mission.

However, staring at the powdery substance that would surely kill him one day, he realised that this wasn't how he'd pictured himself to be and after thinking about it, he certainly found the idea of the great Kisame dying from a drug-overdose, it really wasn't his thing.

He was and still is; Hoshigaki Kisame, was one of the famous 'Seven Swordsmen' and now an Akatsuki member, he was at the top of his game, he could go no further…well, unless he turned into Orochimaru, but the sick pedo made his skin crawl-so there was no worries of that happening anytime soon.

After that he turned his life around, cutting out alcohol, smoking and any temptations of drugs in the future.

Gambling would never become an issue, because he hated it so much.

But the whores were a necessary part of his bodily function, he needed to relieve stress somewhere, and that was part of the way to do it, of course after going a few rounds with them, he kills them, in hopes of concealing his identity as much as possible from the outside world-with its prying eyes and ever-listening ears.

Of course he still threw himself at dangerous missions, but only to keep the boredom from consuming him, like it'd done after Itachi's death, instead, he focused on becoming healthy and fit, needing to exercise and eat healthily, just basically taking care of himself a bit better.

Later that night he'd stood naked in front of the mirror in a hotel room, determined to see what damage he'd done to his body.

He'd become more than shocked at what he looked like, wondering how he'd let himself get so…_ill_.

Dark circles were visible under his eyes from all those sleepless nights he'd stayed up on missions and drinking himself stupid, his stomach had shrunken from barely eating anything decent, he had many cuts, bruises and gashes from many battles he'd come across on missions, his hair was greasy, his teeth barely clean-leaving that putrid taste in his mouth and he smelt bad.

_Really bad_.

For many moments he'd just stood there, staring at how _disgusting_ he really was.

Then that disgust turned into determination; he would get better-he'd make sure of it!

He'd cleaned himself up and became better than he'd been for a long time and never looked back once, only to cringe in embarrassment and remind himself of why he kept such a strict routine, almost becoming as bad as Sasori had been once before.

A small smile spread across Kisame's mouth as he remembered cleaning his teeth literally eleven times until he felt absolutely certain that his teeth were white again, he'd washed his hair at least two-three times, washed his body the same amount and managed to sleep for two day's straight once he'd finally climbed into a bed.

And all this happened over a month ago, it seemed like such a long time ago, but it weren't, not really.

That beautiful voice, this is what it had done to him, it'd made him think, remember about everything he'd managed to forget, the whole reason how he'd ended up in this situation, the fact that he could be possibly bleeding to death humbled him, almost making him content to think that at least he fought to the end, at least he managed to kill them, and was able to die listening to this wondrous lullaby.

He'd never heard anyone sing like this, not at all in his thirty-two years of living on this wretched planet, but hey! It weren't the planet itself that was bad, it was the people, the way their eyes always cast over him, instantly looking at his features, judging him and calling him names, ostracizing him from everything-even as a kid, he'd had no friends, he'd been bullied and hated, but he'd come out on top, maybe not in the good sense, but at least he was strong enough to look after himself, he no longer needed to rely upon anyone else but himself, and that was as far as he was determined for it to go.

He sighed deeply, it was like they said, you see your life flash before your eyes just before you die, and his only regret was never settling down, of course he hadn't expected any miracles to happen, he never expected to have a beautiful woman as a wife or have ten children and live in a mansion and be super-rich and well-respected.

No, he wanted the simple life, whether he lived on his own or with a wife that he thought was good enough for him and the other way around, perhaps having a couple of kids and live in a decent-sized house, quietly, away from others, whether in a small town or in the forest, he didn't mind.

But, sure as hell, he would've loved to have experienced that, instead of having to live through danger all the time, having to watch over his shoulder, and although it gave him a thrill, it also annoyed and tired him to no end.

He closed his eyes, waiting for him to slip into unconsciousness and die, peacefully, unlike all the rest of the other members had, however, just as he relaxed, the voice stopped, the melody disappeared, and reality sunk-in.

His eyes snapped open, why did the singing stop? Who was that singing that beautiful song? Why was she singing in the first place?

He suddenly had the violent urge to find out who it was, of course it was a woman, but he wanted to know what her name was, who she was, where she came from and why was she singing all the way out here?

Didn't she know she was too far away from civilization? Was it possible that she was lost? In need of help? _Alone?_

Kisame set his jaw firmly together, ignoring his pain and that he was bleeding quite a bit, he held onto the tree behind him and slowly managed to get himself to his knees, from there he lifted himself onto one leg…then the other, until he was standing up once more.

It hurt to stand on his feet, his head and body swayed from nausea that threatened to overcome him and make him puke and faint, but he willed himself not too.

He was no damsel in distress, he was and still is; Hoshigaki Kisame, was one of the famous 'Seven Swordsmen' and now an Akatsuki member and he was going to go further than the 'top of his game', he would try and help this woman, whether she was lost or not, whether she was afraid of him or not, he wouldn't care, for once, at least once before he died, he wanted to help someone-he wanted to experience himself committing to one _good_ thing before he died, and he was determined to see it through.

He forced one foot before him, then the other, still gripping the tree for dear-life, after moving his ankles round and round in circular motions, he found himself able to stand and walk without the use of a tree to support him.

That didn't mean it was made any easier though, he was still struggling terribly, he managed to keep himself focused on finding this mysterious woman, he at least needed to know she was unharmed.

The singing did not start again, but the sound of a river made him wonder if she'd perhaps a place to get a drink or perhaps bathe?

The latter thought made him hesitate slightly and felt his face heat up, what if he caught her bathing? What would he say? How would he defend himself if she recognised him as a member of the infamous Akatsuki? And what if she was a bounty hunter?

He could barely walk, let-a-lone defend himself from potential enemies.

However, he shrugged this off, either way, he was most likely going to die soon, how his life ended now meant little difference, but he really wanted to hear that voice at least once more.

It was as he neared the river that was just a little further through the trees and shrubs, that he heard soft humming coming from what he believed to be the same woman from before, he placed his right side against a tree, not wanting to expose himself to the lady if she was bathing, if she was, he'd leave her in peace, if not, then well, it would be that luck was on his side.

He glanced round the tree carefully, hoping he wouldn't get his nose chopped off for peeking, but what his gaze fell upon was anything but a simple woman bathing in the river, and it weren't just any river, this river was _huge_ in length and width, he knew that this river joined onto the sea further north from where they were.

What Kisame recognised to be a Mermaid was seated upon on a tall rock, humming lightly to herself, she was manipulating water in her hands, watching the liquid flow to-and-throw between each molecule, it looked easy when she was doing that; but he knew from experience that it was very hard to manipulate water _just like that_.

But he was more amazed at this discovery; she was a real-life Mermaid!

He'd thought they were mere fantasy, he'd heard here-and-there that there were some sightings of Merfolk, but they were few-and-far-between, most of them being fishermen and they were drunk when they came back to the restaurant to grab something to eat late at night.

At the time when Kisame had asked his partner what he thought about their ramblings, Itachi replied "The problem with rumours is they always have a certain truth to them."

And Itachi had been right!

Kisame mentally snorted; when had Itachi _never_ been right?

The mermaid had long, wavy aquamarine hair that went down to her waist, her tail was the most beautiful shade of pink/red he'd ever seen in his entire life, no colour could match that!

And her eyes! They were exquisite, a beautiful shade of pale grey, she was enchanting, a beautiful siren, a Mermaid-she was _real_, unless he was imagining things, which was very rare, but wouldn't surprise him if it were true; he was dying after all.

Her skin wasn't exactly pale, she'd definitely been sat in the sun, it had a sort of golden hue about it, and she had the typical shells covering-well, barely covering her ample breasts, they were a shade of pale lavender, and overall, he found himself head-over-heels in love with her.

He couldn't understand it; this was not what he was like!

He was never this reckless, and he'd never been in love before, but the sudden rush of feeling he'd had, swamped through him, almost drowning him in longing.

There was lust, but it weren't just that, there was the longing to know her better; he wanted to know her name, her age, where she came from-everything.

He wanted to know _everything_ about her and he found himself wanting to claim her for his own.

He shook his head furiously, what a stupid idea!

He couldn't do that, she was innocent, she looked young and very beautiful, why would she love or even like a monster like him?

In her eyes, he'd be no better than Orochimaru.

He almost gave up in his efforts and almost turned away, until her voice called out, it was addressed to him "I know you're there, come out, let me see you."

Her voice was angelic, like a lullaby itself, but her singing was much more enchanting.

He took a deep breath, how did she notice him here? Did he forget to hide his chakra again? Did she have some strange ability?

Either way, she knew he was there, there was little else he could do about it, she was too lovely to say 'no' too, and he couldn't possibly say 'no' to such a wondrous creature as her.

She was the rarest and most beautiful thing he'd ever laid eyes upon.

He was already enslaved by her beauty, he just hoped he weren't walking…or well, stumbling into a trap.

He exhaled the air he locked in his chest and slowly wobbled out into her view, she lifted her head at the sound of his faint stumbling footsteps, she turned her face to his and looked at him and smiled warmly at him, her eyes full of compassion and it looked like she was being…nice to him, like she was actually happy to see him, like they'd been together for so long and he'd just returned home after a long days' work.

Kisame mentally smacked himself, demanding he take control over his rushing feelings, he was usually more controlled than this, and then he began mentally scolding himself for being so weak and allowing himself to let his guard down so easily, he should've known better!

Her expression suddenly turned to slight horror as she saw his wounds and the blood dripping noticeably from beneath that dark cloak of his, she suddenly became frightened for his health, was this man dying?

"You're injured!" She exclaimed, the terror threaded her voice, she knew that he was in great pain, she went against her natural instincts that told her to swim away before he got any closer or attempted to attack her.

But then she remembered the law of her people; only her life-mate would hear her song and follow it to its source.

Had he heard her song? Had she finally found her life-mate after years of searching?

He smirked lightly and answered quietly, adding some humour in for her benefit "Is that where all the blood is coming from?"

At another time she might've laughed with him, that is, if he weren't stood there bleeding to death.

Going against her better judgment, she pushed herself off from the rock she was sitting on and went into the water with a dull 'splash', her head remained above the water the entire time as she used her tail to swim close to the bank.

He watched her the entire time, swaying a little from where he was stood on his feet, she paused before the embankment and stared at him silently for a few moments, waiting for him to try and grab her, but when he eyes met his she merely saw curiosity and awe written there.

She knew then that she was at no risk.

Pulling herself out of the water, she sat on the side of the embankment, ushering him over to her by waving her hand.

He noticed this, raising an eyebrow, wondering what she planned to do, but just made an excuse for her, perhaps she was just curious?

He wordlessly followed her silent orders, and he trudged slowly towards her, aware that his trousers were soaked in blood, the most uncomfortable feeling he'd ever felt in his entire life.

He stopped before her, looking down at her with his tired eyes, she was staring up at him earnestly, pleading with him to sit down next to her, and he did so, rather slowly, his muscles feeling the need to release their tension, from himself, he used his left arm to place on the ground and slowly lower himself down to sit beside her, her arms went out immediately to help ease him down to her level, not wanting him to hurt himself more than he already had.

Once sat down, he took a few deep breaths, hoping that by doing so, he'd ease the pain that was spread across his chest and hips.

Her hands were on him immediately, pulling at his cloak, trying to get it undone, and he quickly grabbed her small hands within his huge ones, he saw her light blush, he too felt his cheeks go warm at the sudden contact, but he couldn't let her see how bad he really was; how disgusting he was.

"What are you doing?" He asked, although, he already knew what she'd been aiming to do.

"I wish to help you, you're injured, I can't sit here and watch you bleed to death." She stated, yanking her hands from within his and once again, began tackling the cloak, this time he let her.

Kisame rested his body upon his elbows, leaning up, so that he could see what she would do to help him.

She all-but ripped his cloak open, though didn't yank it from his body immediately, because of the sticky, dark patches, staining his cloak and trousers, the material could be sticking to some open wounds.

She eased the cloak away from his front, allowing him to just lay there upon his cloak, as if he were sunbathing on a beach.

Her gaze fell upon the few long cuts along his chest-as if a monster had been clawing at him, they were rather deep and bleeding terribly.

She managed to stop herself from making a small sound of horror escape her lips that were shaded to a dark-ish pink tint, Kisame noticed that now since he was up-close to her, what would it be like to kiss those lips of hers? What would they taste like?

He mentally shook his head, he shouldn't be thinking such thoughts-especially at a time like this, he should be thanking the God's that she was attempting to help him-no one else would.

Kisame gave a groan of pain and lust when he felt her delicate fingers trace along the outer flesh of his wounds where the skin had become swollen, his head fell back as his eyes rolled upwards, he slowly laid his head on the ground, feeling the earth digging into his elbows making him uncomfortable.

"You're the first man to find me and doesn't wish to kill me." She muttered to him, whilst her hands went down into his pouch attached to his right leg, she began fumbling about in there-looking for something sharp.

His eyes re-focused back on her, and asked in bewilderment "Why would anyone wish to kill or harm _you_?"

She picked out a small shuriken, that being the only sharp object she could find to her use at the time, she found some bandages in there as well, unwrapping them, she answered "If you kill a Mermaid or Merman, the money you could collect for them is beyond anything in this world, the reason why we're worth so much money is because if you eat any of the Merfolks' skin from their tales, you gain immortality, you will never die and will live forever."

Kisame coughed loudly, she quickly grabbed him by his arms and made him sit up, rubbing his back whilst his coughing fit racked his body, after a few minutes he calmed down once more, and seeing the blood drip between his fingers from his mouth, she gave a small gasp and quickly moved his hand away from his mouth.

More blood pooled from his hand and onto his already stained trousers, she ushered him to lie down once more, and he did so, already subdued from his wounds he no longer had the will to defend himself.

She quickly lifted the small shuriken from her side, and just as quickly sliced it along her palm, his eyes caught on the silver liquid pooling from her hands and instantly realised it was her own blood, his large left hand clasped firmly around her smaller one, and staring at her with half-lidded eyes from where he lay, he growled "What are you _doing_?"

She sat there calmly, as if not feeling the cut along her palm, she stared into his eyes and simply stated "Saving your life."

His grip loosened, unsure of what she was doing, but thought that she knew best, if she were going to save him with some sort of voodoo magic, then hell! He weren't complaining…much.

She took her cut hand from his and gently caressed it across his wounds, allowing her blood to mix with his, he groaned again at how gentle she was being with him, soon enough she took her hand away from his wounds, and he felt them tingling.

He hoisted himself up, determined to see what she'd done and was very surprised to see his wounds had stopped bleeding and were slowly melding together, as if he'd never been injured, and what was better was, he could feel his strength returning to him.

As if he'd just woken from a long nap and was refreshed.

He looked at her with wide eyes, amazed by such abilities, only to see her looking down at her hand quietly, though it too, was healing just as his were, she looked deep in thought, and although he didn't want to disturb her, he had to thank her for saving him, no one had ever attempted to do so before now, and he was truly very grateful to her, he owed her his life, or at least something in return.

"Are you alright…miss…?" He trailed off, having completely forgotten to ask her for her name, how rude that must seem, but he'd been dying five minutes before, he didn't think he'd live this long.

She glanced up at him, smiling warmly again and answered "My name is; Kaiyou, and you are?"

'Kaiyou', meaning; 'Ocean', it suited her nicely, for she looked to be a part of the ocean-yet, why was she all the way out here?

"Hoshigaki Kisame. Thanks for saving me that is some incredible ability you have!"

She smiled and blushed lightly at the compliment and answered with a small "Thank you."

He lifted a hand and began rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably "I don't mean to intrude, but, I was wondering, why are you here-and not in the ocean? Surely that's where you should be? Don't you have a family or a lover to go back too? I'm sure they're worried about you-"

"I left my family when I became of age; I was to search for my life-mate, although there are many Mermen who have tried to court me, none of them were my other-half." She explained quietly, staring down at her hands, they were clasped together upon her tail-where her lap would have been.

"I have no one that is why I am here; I am searching for my life-mate." She finished timidly, but forced herself to look to at him, if he was her life-mate, then she would have to become comfortable by looking into his eyes and being so close to him.

It had nothing to do with his appearance, the Mermen weren't exactly what humans would call 'handsome', but then she wasn't sure what a humans perception of 'handsome' would be.

As far she was concerned, this man; Kisame looked very strong and well-built, he also seemed to be quite polite as well.

If he is her life-mate, then she was certain that she could grow to love him; it would be inevitable.

He stared at her for many minutes, he muttered "That sounds rather lonely-"

He cut himself off, suddenly shocked to find that she could possibly be as lonely as he had been for so long, she was merely searching for her life partner, and she hadn't found him yet, but she was still searching, that made him feel sad for her.

How long would she have to wait until the right man came by her?

Yet, something didn't seem right, why on earth was she searching for a _man_ instead of a _Merman_? Wasn't there some rule that Merfolk weren't supposed to show themselves to humans?

"I have been singing for so long, in hopes of my life-mate coming to find me, it is said by Merfolk that only their life-mate will hear their song and would seek her out, you see…us Mermaids have to sing for our life-mate, Mermen merely have to prove they are good warriors," Kisame felt a warmth creeping through him, for he'd been the one to seek her out after hearing her enchanting voice, she was the reason why he was here.

"Many men have come, but not to be my mate, just to kill me for their selfishness, but none of them succeeded," she lifted her hand into his, smiling warmly, she looked into his eyes, stroking his hand in a soothing motion-the gesture felt almost alien to him, but that didn't mean he didn't like it.

"Tell me, what did you feel and think when you found me?" She asked as her eyes drifted from his and out onto the water of the river.

Where would he start?

Surely if he spoke the truth she would be sickened by him and get as far away from him as she could.

For some reason he didn't want her to be repulsed or feel fear of him, perhaps it had something to with the fact that no one else had bothered to help him before and of course he was indebted to her now that she'd saved his life.

Her blood was now flowing through his veins…

It was a rather pleasant thought and he decided that she deserved nothing but the truth; it was the very least he could do for her.

"Well…I heard you singing further away in the forest, when you stopped I just felt the need to find you…" he paused, feeling a little insecure; he'd never had to open up like this to anyone, not even Itachi who'd been considered the closest thing to a friend.

"When I saw you…I felt as if I'd be smacked with a mallet." He grinned when she giggled at that and was secretly pleased deep-down that she weren't repulsed by his sharp teeth.

"Honestly I've never felt such…" He trailed off looking for the right word that wouldn't offend her or scare her.

"Desire?" She supplied for him, looking round to meet his eyes, still smiling at him.

At first he'd felt the need to disagree and re-phrase her statement, but when he saw her smiling at him…almost happily he thought carefully about this situation.

He was no Romeo, he wasn't handsome, his charm was little to zero and he was only polite-sometime mockingly so, he never had much luck when it came to women, they all thought he was repulsive and creepy, men admired his strength but also instinctively knew of his bad-luck with women and found that it was 'manly' and 'impressive' to rub that in his face.

He used his free hand and rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled "Erm…yeah."

She nodded, her eyes twinkling in some semblance of delight that he couldn't understand as she continued stroking his hand "There's a law of my people. To find a life-mate, only one male or female in the world would hear a Mermaid's voice, be attracted to it and seek her out."

This news sent a shiver down his spine as he paused, his arm dropping to his side as he stared in surprise.

Kaiyou gave him an award-winning smile "And now it seems I no longer have to search, because I have found him."

His eyes widened and he almost ripped himself from her, had she not leaned in towards him and gently placed her warm lips upon his, in a small kiss.

However, that small kiss undid him, he felt the violent tremors rushing through his body, he felt pleasure to the extreme, and a warm feeling settling in his chest; this felt so right, like they'd done this so many times before.

"Did you feel it?" She asked in a whisper, as she leaned away from his body to look into his eyes and read his expression.

He felt his body shaking slightly, after having felt such intense tremors of feeling rushing through his body, his breath was slightly irregular, but he knew deep down.

He couldn't form any words and merely stared at her with such longing in his eyes; he felt younger, as if he were a teenager once more.

He had a feeling as to where this was going…but did he deserve such a wondrous creature?

He certainly didn't feel all that worthy of her life, attention and love.

Yet he craved it like a bee to pollen.

"Do you understand what this means for us?" Kaiyou asked, her expression serious as she stared at him with an even look, making sure that he didn't turn or run away from this responsibility.

It was something out of their control that couldn't be stopped once set into motion, they would no doubt be together for the rest of their lives.

"Sort of…" He mumbled, looking away from her now, he really felt ashamed that she would be stuck with him.

"Kisame, look at me," he did and saw her determined grey eyes burning with some unspeakable fire "I don't regret this, I have been searching for years for my life-mate, I know this is sudden…but if you leave, then I will die."

He blinked at her in confusion.

She wasn't in love with him, she wouldn't die, she was being over-dramatic, it wasn't needed, especially when he was trying to get his head around this sudden turn of events without the added pressure.

She looked hurt when he didn't say anything to console her "…There is also a curse…once I've shared my blood with my life-mate, if I am rejected I will eventually die…believe me, if I could control it I would, you're a free man, I have no right to hope for any claim on you or your life."

Kaiyou lowered her head in shame and disappointment, mentally preparing herself for the worst that would no doubt come, she would have to return home to her family if they're still living with news of her imminent death and after that, find somewhere deserted and peaceful to die.

She didn't want to die, she'd wasted so much of her life searching for her one true love, she's found him and now she was certain he didn't want her.

It wasn't fair to expect so much of him, she'd known all her life about meeting her life-mate someday, but he'd only known it for fifteen minutes-she wouldn't blame him if he disappeared without answering her.

"Hey-hey," using his free hand he placed it under her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes "it just took me by surprise is all…I need time to adjust to this…so I won't reject you, we'll just have to work something out, it'll take some time, but I'm willing to make an effort…if you are?"

Her eyes sparkled with hope and tears as she answered "Kisame…I have been kept waiting for so long, I think I can spare some more patience and get to know you better."

She was smiling now and he felt happy inside knowing that she was smiling because of him, it made him feel a little good about himself.

His arms slowly circled around her in fierce protectiveness, pulling her to his chest, she felt her owns hands grip at his cloak, burying her head into his chest, she was smaller than him-much smaller since he was considered rather large for a man and yet, she fit so well against him-almost as if she were made for him.

He leaned his head to her hair and inhaled the lovely salty smell of her hair, it reminded him of the ocean itself, he weren't surprised and since he loved water and was used to getting wet, he found her scent pleasant.

He'd been lonely for so long-just as she had, they'd both endured loneliness, but to now realise after so many years what he was lacking was just out in the forest waiting for him, made him sad, he was sad-but at the same time happy, no-wait, ecstatic was a better word to describe how he felt at that moment.

Here was someone that wanted to know-that needed him there in order to live, of course he had no choice in the matter, and his morals wouldn't allow him to unintentionally kill such a rare creature of pure fantasy come to life.

Besides, it weren't as if she weren't physically appealing, she was indeed gorgeous, she'd also helped him; a stranger and now her life-mate from dying whereas every other _normal_ person wouldn't even look twice at him.

He was glad when she didn't recoil from his touch, didn't hiss threats to him under her breath, didn't spit at him or throw things, didn't show disgust at his face, instead she welcomed him, healed him, held him and was willing to make an effort to get to know him.

He was so fortunate.

Screw Akatsuki-this was heaven, her beauty, her tenderness and voice, enthralled him completely.

She was his as he was hers, and so it will always be.

He was; Hoshigaki Kisame; was one of the famous 'Seven Swordsmen' and was an Akatsuki member, he was no longer at the 'top of his game', it was merely starting all over again, he was going to try and be the best friend, lover and future husband he could ever be, this was his challenge.

It was all for her.

His little Mermaid.

A lullaby.

***THE END***

* * *

**This is a re-written more realistic version of the original one-shot. This is my first Kisame one-shot and now that I've completed it, I can say with a smile that I am quite proud of how it all came together.**

**Again, many thanks to those of you that reviewed!**

**!REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED!**


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